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Isxuor
General information Isorian (natively known as ‹Isxuor› /i ɕːuoːɾ/) is a Romance language spoken in the country of Isora, a region locked between surrounding nations Fráun̂saia and Itellia to the west and east and the Maer Imisterrane to the south. It is descended from Lasxina, although it was very noticeably been influenced by Fráun̂siei and Itellienno. The language is very verb-centric and will prefer to forgo the subject where possible. Phonology Alphabet The alphabet of Isorian is derived from the Latin alphabet. It follows as such: Consonants To note: *The consonant cluster gn represents the sound /ŋn/—for instance, ‹regna› "ruler" would in IPA be /ɾeŋnɑː/. Word-final gn clusters, however, denote onle a /ŋ/ sound—e.g., ‹legn› "lengthwise" /lɛŋ/. *The consonant cluster sx represents a geminate /ɕ/—cf. ‹nisx› "night" /niɕː/ and ‹lux› /luɕ/. *The consonant q'' always appears followed by a ''u, and together they represent the sound /kw/—e.g., ‹quor› "who?" /kwoːɾ/. *The letter n'' represents three possible phonemes depending on its location: before ''x and sx (/ɕ/ and /ɕː/), it takes on the value /ɲ/—e.g., enxur "softly" /ɛɲ.ɕuːɾ/; before c'', ''g and h'' (/k/, /g/ and /h/), it takes on the sound /ŋ/—e.g., anhaire "to despise" /ɑŋ.hɑː.ˈiː.reː/; and in all other places, it takes on the values of /n/—e.g., annu "year" /ɑn.nuː/, invers "contrarily, inversely" /ˌin.ˈvɛɾs/. *''n̂ and m̂ are special versions of the nasal consonants n'' and ''m that both signify a nasalisation of the preceding vowel: / ˜/; e.g., ‹siéñ›, /si.'ã/. However, when followed by a vowel, usually the vowel that begins the next word, n̂ is pronounced as n'' and ''m̂ as m'' (although nasalisation of the previous vowel still occurs); e.g., ‹sti sién̂ arvea› "they are trees": /sti si.'ã nɑɾ.veː.ɑ/ *Other consonants all denote the same sounds as shown in the table above and will not take on any other sounds, even in clusters of consonants. Vowels To note: *Vowel letters can represent either a short or a long vowel sound; e.g., a /ɑ/ ''or /ɑː/. The distinction is marked in speech but not in writing, and so the vowel lengths per word are best learnt by heart. *All vowels do take the sounds as shown above, and only the sounds shown above, and the specific combinations in which they take different sounds—such as áe and áu—are also shown above. **The one exceptions are e'' and ''o, which can respectively take /ɛ/ or /ɔ/ instead of their usual values of /e/ and /o/, depending on ease of speech; but /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ are always short: /ɛː/ and /ɔː/ do not exist in Isxuor. *The combinations áe, áu and œ̀ only appear if the first vowel of a word would be /a/, /ɒ/ and /ə/ respectively. At all other instances of those sounds are represented by é'', ''ó and è'' respectively. Cf. ‹áurón̂› "they have" /ɒ 'ɾɒ̃/, where both ''áu and ó'' represent /ɒ/, but their locations determine which form is used. Phonotactics Isorian takes any small cluster of consonants and vowels as a syllable, the smallest possible syllable being (V) or (C–V). For instance. ‹o› "at" forms a syllable, being a whole word in and of itself; ‹zu› "you" is also a whole syllable and a word, with a (C–V) breakdown. Typically, syllables take on the form (C–L–V—L–C), where *'C''' denotes any consonant; *'L' denotes the liquid consonants r'' and ''l; *'V' denotes: a short vowel, or a long vowel (V́), or a diphthong—a cluster of two combined (short) vowels (V̋); and *'brackets' denote that the contents are optional to the syllable. Note that when multiple long vowels are in succession, all the vowels after the first form independent syllables. e.g., ‹haoes› "chaos", /ˌhɑː.ˈoː.ɛs/ (CV́–V́–VC) Syllables are classified this way: *'Short Syllables' are composed of either a single vowel (V), or a single (C–V) cluster, both cases in which the vowel V is a short vowel sound. *'Medium Syllables' are clusters of multiple consonants with a single short vowel sound: (C–V–C) is a common medium syllable. *All other syllables are considered Long Syllables: to wit, ones with diphthongs or long vowels. To take more complex example, ‹corafractitau›, "heartbreak", "heartbrokenness", can be broken into syllables as such, with the lengths of the syllables also given. Verbs Like most of its sister languages, Isorian is quite heavily verb-centric and ideas can, most of the time, be conveyed in sentences that comprise solely of one verb and its modifying adverbs. This is expressed moreso in Isorian than its sister languages in that Isorian has developed a more complex (although slightly more compact) system of verbs and verb functions. Verb infinitives always end in ''-re'', and the letter right before this syllable is used as a basis for classification of verbs. As such there are five conjugations of verbs, excluding exceptions, and they are as follows: The conjugations also match up to some extent, and the major differences are found only in how the vowels interact with other vowels and consonants. Timeframe and Aspect One can consider there to be three basic timeframes: the past (‹sta passata›), the present (‹sto presónni›) and the future (‹sta fuitura›). This is in accordance with many other languages that create similar distinctions in time. There are again, like most other languages, a two-fold distinction in aspect: the aorist (‹sta bassuisca› "the basic") and the perfect (‹sta parfacta›). Tenses and Moods Tenses Together, the timeframes and aspects contribute to six total tenses: *'Simple Present' (‹Sto Presónni Bassuisco› "the basic/simple present") **This tense denotes actions, simple and continuous, as well as habits: ‹amar› ("I love", "I do love", "I am loving"); ‹derarón̂› ("they give", "they do give", "they are giving"); ‹yttè› ("you (pl.) go", "you (pl.) do go", "you (pl.) are going"). *'Simple Past' (‹Sta Passata Bassuisca› "the simple past") **This denotes basic past actions and occurences: ‹volute› ("he/she/it wanted to"); ‹derasi› ("I gave"); ‹dominesto› ("you (pl.) ruled"). *'Simple Future' (‹Sta Fuitura Bassuisca› "the simple future") **This tense is used when describing intended future actions, and functions as an optative tense of sorts: ‹seri› ("I shall be", "I plan on being", "I would be"); ‹somnerai› ("he/she/it shall sleep", "he/she/it plans on sleeping", "he/she/it would sleep"). *'Present Perfect' (‹Sto Presónni Parfacto› "the perfect present") **When an action is being described that has just reached completed or currently being completed, this tense is used: ‹comtebux› ("you (sing.) have eaten", "you (sing.) just ate"); ‹{nœ̀i} facore› ("we have done/finished/made", "we just did/finished/made"). *'Pluperfect' (‹Sta Pius-qua-Parfacta› ("the more-than-perfect (tense)") or ‹Sta Passata Parfacta› "the perfect past") **This tense either can denote an action that was finished before the current period of time, or it can denote as well an anterior action: ‹fuhibe› ("he/she/it had flown"); ‹avora du resiare, comptebi o restoranzui› ("before—to return—(I) eat —at restaurant" = "before returning, I ate/had eaten at the restaurant"). *'Future Perfect' (‹Sta Fuitura Parfacta› "the perfect future" or ‹Sta Comisseteve› "the commissive") **This tense regularly denotes a certainty in the future, an action one knows will get completed. It can also be used in a commissive sense (to make a promise or a threat), in the sense of "I will have ____ done": ‹buveri› ("I will drink", "I will have drunk"); ‹vieneroi› ("I will come", "I will have come"). Moods Just as important to speech as tense-forms are the various moods, which allow expression of attitudes, such as commands and desires. While there are several moods that can be expressed by means of auxiliary verbs such as ‹valore› ("to want") and ‹povore› ("to be able"), there are two moods expressed in the form of verbal inflections: the conditionalubjunctive mood and the imperative/volitional mood. *'Conditional' (‹Sta Condisonna› ("the condition (mood)") or ‹Ste Suviegniteve› "the subjunctive") **This mood operates irreally: meaning that it indicates emotions or opinions or possibilities moreso than hard facts. This mood is also used to indicate conditionals: what could have happened, as opposed to what exactly happened: *'Imperative' (‹Ste Imperisteve› "the imperative") **This mood is can actually be split into two moods. ***If the verb is in the second or third person and in the imperative mood, then it signifies a command made to the subject, telling them to execute the action. ***If however the verb is in the first person and imperative mood, then it signifies volition, in the sense of "let me ____!" or "let us ____!": ‹cantomè!› ("let us sing!"); ‹ie› ("let's (let me) go"). Note that the sense of "let me" isn't asking for permission or commanding someone to let one do something; it is in the sense of talking to oneself, and making plans. Other Verb Constructions Other verb forms, moods, aspects or constructions expressed by Isorian verbs do not manifest as inflections or conjugations, but as modifications of the entire verb. They may also be expressed periphrastically, with typically one auxiliary verb denoting the additional meaning coming alongside the verb in question. The other forms include: *'Passive' (‹Sta Passeva› "the passive") **The passive forms of verbs have become obsolete in Isorian. While there is no separate way to form the passive construction, the best one can do if the subject is known is to rearrange the phrase; or if the subject is unknown, then to omit the subject altogether: «mem savorón̂ loi» ("they knew mw", "I was known by them"); «zum aiutarai unquoi» ("(someone) will help you", "you will be helped (by someone)"). *'Imperfect' (‹Sta Insparfacta› "the imperfect") **There is a lack of a tense to show a continuous or incomplete nature of an action. This is made up for by the imperfect construction—the present participle (it is adjectival—it still should match the subject in case, number and gender) is taken and used with the verb ‹yre› "to go": ‹iunzo vai› ("I was going"); ‹resianze andeai› ("she will be returning"); ‹ypnenzi yrón̂› ("they are dreaming"). *'Frequentative' (‹Ste Itereteve› "the iterative") **The frequentative indicates habitual, repeated or forceful actions. The frequentative formed by taking the the first person subjunctive of the verb, attaching a ''-r-'' (or if the last consonant of the verb root is ''-r'', then ''-g-'' is added instead), and finally attaching the verb ending of the original verb (in the case of ''-ore'' verbs, add ''-ire'' instead): ‹amarare› ("to love fervently"); ‹cœ̀uroger› ("I usually run"); ‹volerimo› ("we badly wanted"); ‹querogesto› ("you (pl.) has repeatedly asked"). Example text * The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger, when a traveler came along wrapped in a warm cloak. They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveler take his cloak off should be considered stronger than the other. Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew the more closely did the traveler fold his cloak around him; and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt. Then the Sun shined out warmly, and immediately the traveler took off his cloak. And so the North Wind was obliged to confess that the Sun was the stronger of the two. ** Sto Venzi Norsi e Sto Soli dispostevén̂ o quor este forsuro, quanda arem vyrœ̀ra venyte vuer lor, sconxesta com une halte mande. Loi comuntivén̂ que quor povute primir facore vyrœ̀ram o mandem alluvere, il serai conosco forsuro. Arem Sto Venzi Norsi quo povute illuo duramotte suifluisi ; mai quo pius suifluisi illuo pius la vyrœ̀ra strut tráeesi1 issè mandem ; e finalt Sto Venzi Norsi cittate stam attentam. Arem Sto Soli inferate halt, e missuis sta vyrœ̀ra alluvete lem mandem. Arelloi : Sto Venzi Norsi dovute du appovere que Sto Soli este sto forsuro du stara zuara. 1/ˌt̪ɾaː.ˈsi/ Category:Languages